Giddy over I-95-Oslo work south of Vero Beach? Don't be: Jobs, industry, growth big issues
The last paragraph of a recent TCPalm article about the groundbreaking for an Oslo Road interchange at Interstate 95 contained the most critical message:
“We have a job to do and the next step is managing growth," said County Commission Chairman Joe Earman.
It was the understatement of the year. It came from someone who has lived here a quarter-century longer than me, so I trust his perspective.
Still, I’ve heard the same “managing growth” talk from Indian River politicians the past 38 years. Since then, the population has more than doubled, certain roads have traffic woes more common with big cities, and our Indian River Lagoon has become fouled to a degree it won’t be cleaned up in many of our lifetimes.
Thirty years ago when my wife and I bought a homesite in south Indian River County, one of my concerns was it was in the boondocks ― 5 miles away from my office.
The nearby Oslo Middle School would not open for more than two years and the closest supermarkets were about 4 miles away.
Impacts of ongoing growth in Vero Beach area
More: I-95, Oslo link: Poor planning could spur growth nightmare. Otherwise, it's OK
More: Is this how you want Sebastian, Vero Beach areas to look? County visioning key
More: Will these targets keep Vero Beach, Sebastian from becoming South Florida blob?
More: Indian River ready for new 'municipality' west of 95, from St. Lucie line to 60?
More: No new municipality for Indian River County now, but St. Johns idea will return
More: I-95's new interchange at Oslo Road is four years away, but what's the plan for development?
Slowly, though, things changed.
Unique, tree-lined, smaller subdivisions gave way to larger ones, where cookie-cutter homebuilders stripped the landscape. Growth led to a shopping center a mile away (no complaints). It's even become busy.
Then came the much-needed widening of Oslo Road, from 58th Avenue to U.S. 1.
I frequently walk the unpaved section of 58th Avenue south of Oslo. The north side of 58th has become busy, with almost all vehicles traveling east. It’s easy for me to cross the street.
But for how much longer?
The projections aren’t pretty. There are about 5,000 vehicles a day on Oslo Road, but that’s expected to increase to 21,000 by 2040, TCPalm reported Brian Freeman, the county’s Metropolitan Planning Organization staff director, as saying.
The problem: Thousands of acres of former dairies, pastures and citrus groves in south Indian River and north St. Lucie counties have been rezoned for housing. Thus, traffic has grown dramatically along 27th, 43rd and 58th avenues. They’re commuter roads, and lots of folks from down south use them to shop and eat on State Road 60.
Will Oslo Road construction relieve traffic bottlenecks?
Will the widened Oslo Road and 95 interchange expected to open in summer 2027 relieve some of that traffic?
Maybe, if you are traveling to and from Florida’s Turnpike, Brevard County, Fellsmere or the outlet mall. The reality is thousands of more homes will be built in south Indian River and north St. Lucie counties.
A mitigating factor could be if St. Lucie County’s Towns, Villages and Countrysides plan, which would be more than just a commercial hub, remains intact. That would keep some Indrio Road-area traffic from heading north.
But with all the extra homes, school choice, commuting, etc., all bets are off.
The big bugaboo is what happens along the Oslo Road corridor, which will be widened to four lanes and extend past the 95 interchange. Much of the land along the road is agricultural, though a lot of it is either industrial or planned to be that way.
"This really does help market Indian River County for new businesses," Helene Caseltine, Indian River Chamber of Commerce economic-development director, said in the ground-breaking article. "This will open the area for future manufacturing and distribution operations."
If you told me there’d be some land west of the interstate ― before Oslo becomes home to more agriculture and solar farms ― for distribution centers, I'd understand. Especially if trips there and back would come largely via the interstate.
Economic development or just more rooftops?
But it seems the 95-turnpike corridor in northern St. Lucie County has become a distribution hub. Meantime, property next to the State Road 60 CVS distribution center has sat vacant since before it opened in 2006.
What I don’t want to see is more South Florida sprawl, the kind that runs into St. Lucie County (St. Lucie West, Tradition) and picks up in Brevard County (Viera).
We have enough cookie-cutter hotels, fast-food restaurants and gasoline stations on 60 at 95. While the new exchange might be an interesting spot for a Buc-ee's mega-convenience store, the novelty would wear off before the traffic would become crippling.
Perhaps my biggest fear is one I raised in early 2020, when I reported the administrator of the St. Johns Improvement District had built a $3.5 million budget to do surveys, research and hold an election to create a new municipality.
Ultimately tabled by owners of 25,000 or so mostly agricultural acres in the district west of 95, between State Road 60 and the south county line, the municipality could have run much like others created in Florida by large property owners.
Like Westlake in Palm Beach County, founded after homebuilders Minto Communities in 2013 paid $51 million for 3,800 acres of former orange groves, according to the Sun-Sentinel. The city was projected to have 4,500 homes and an estimated 12,000 people.
What would Indian River County residents like to see?
Or Wellington, also part of the Acme Improvement District in Palm Beach County. Founded in 1995 to preserve its equestrian heritage, it’s grown to about 61,500 people and continues to battle with developers who want to bend the rules.
Perhaps the best-known improvement district like St. Johns is the one up the turnpike formerly known as Reedy Creek, home to Disney. By now, most people know how Disney acquired property there and ran the board. Just imagine if developers did the same on western Oslo Road.
Personally, I’d let other regions take Buc-ee’s, The Mouse or national homebuilders any day.
But what county commissioners should do is engage the public and make it easy for us to get involved.
Most folks in Indian River County I speak with want to keep a small-town feel with a variety of top-notch amenities ― theaters, art, health care, education, local restaurants, wildlife, agriculture, recreation, houses of faith ― while having a good job and an affordable place to live.
They’re not into the traffic and environmental degradation and unfriendliness that has come to define so many of Florida’s metropolitan areas and threatens others.
"We really need to pull all the people together to talk about what actually would happen there," said County Commissioner Susan Adams, noting compatibility with existing development and infrastructure are keys. "We want to end up with something we (the community) want(s), rather than something we get."
Earman's on board, too.
"We have work to do to make sure it's done the right way," Earman told TCPalm. "Our job as county commissioners over the next four years is to make sure this goes well. This project has so much potential."
Yet so much risk.
This column reflects the opinion of Laurence Reisman. Contact him via email at larry.reisman@tcpalm.com, phone at 772-978-2223, Facebook.com/larryreisman or Twitter @LaurenceReisman.
If you are a subscriber, thank you. If not, become a subscriber to get the latest local news on the latest local news on the Treasure Coast.
This article originally appeared on Treasure Coast Newspapers: Interstate 95-Oslo interchange south of Vero Beach comes with big risk
